Online training “Organic Module on Capacity Development for State Servants dedicated to Organic Production, Circulation and Labelling of Organic Products” was held on February 1-3, 2022. The event gathered about 180 participants, including specialists of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection (central office and oblast directorates), and the State Institution “Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office”. The event was organized by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and certification body Organic Standard in partnership with Organic Ukraine NGO with support of Switzerland within the framework of the Swiss-Ukrainian program “Higher Value Added Trade from Organic and Dairy Sector in Ukraine” (hereinafter – QFTP) implemented by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL, Switzerland) in partnership with SAFOSO AG (Switzerland).

On the first training day Liudmyla Khomichak, Deputy Director of the Directorate for the National Policy on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures – Head of the Main Directorate for Excisable Products and Organic Production within the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, noted in her welcome speech: “I am glad that today’s event is of great interest for all the organic stakeholders in Ukraine. I would like to point out that the legislative framework has been fully established and we have reached the stage of its practical implementation. There have been exams for organic inspectors recently, and 22 inspectors have already been accredited. This will certainly contribute to organic market development in Ukraine. I am convinced that today’s event will bring necessary knowledge and help to understand the peculiarities which will allow everyone to work in every field of organic production. Moreover, the information will be useful for those inspectors who plan to get accredited”.

Andrii Kravchenko, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Agrarian Development of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, noted: “In my opinion, Ukraine has huge potential to provide food to both domestic and export markets. The matter of organic production is important for the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, as it has recently been empowered in the part of state support to organic production. Currently, we are closely cooperate on the relevant procedure which will regulate state support to organic producers with the representatives of oblast state administrations and private organizations . It is crucial to learn, gain, analyze and implement the European best practices of organic production, circulation, and labeling of organic products. That is why this training will be highly relevant and useful for the employees of our ministry”.

For three days of the training, the leading experts in certification, standardization, and quality of Organic Standard LLC introduced the participants to the requirements to organic crop, livestock, mushroom production, beekeeping, aquaculture, and seaweed production; the topics related to organic wild collection, food circulation and certification procedure were also highlighted.

Summing up during the last day of the training, Vladyslava Magaletska, Head of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection, mentioned: “I would like to thank all our partners that organized this event; I highly appreciate your contribution to organic market development in Ukraine. For three days of the training, about 180 specialists from the oblast directorates and central office of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection have joined the training. Our future path as a competent authority means support to business and establishment of correct perception of what organic products are by consumers, as well as raising demand for them. In view of the growing demand for organic products, we hope for further fruitful cooperation and will do our best to contribute to it”.

For the training materials on organic topic, in particular, materials of online training “Organic Module on Capacity Development for State Servants dedicated to organic production, circulation and labelling of organic products” visit the E-Learning Training System in section “Useful information” on the SSUFSCP website.